BILL BUSH - A VELVET TOUCH / I'M WAITING - RONN 17, MINT, FROM ARTISTE'S STOCK

	£		1,130
	$		1,497

Remarkably, it’s now 12 months since I listed a Bill Bush 45 on eBay. The next sale was due in April 2017 but at the request of Bill's family this is a special additional listing to help support a trip to Europe by his grandson in the summer where his school will perform in a UK theatre production.

Every time I play this record, it’s like the first time. A remarkable, complex and soulful piece of music that, in my search for a copy, took me from Glasgow to Shreveport USA, as a house-guest of Bill Bush.

In 2004, obsessed with Ronn 17 after hearing it played by Keith Money at the 100 Club, I set out to find a copy, instead I found Bill. Fast forward to April 2013, Bill visited the UK, bringing with him the few remaining mint copies in his possession with a view to gradually releasing this handful of rare unplayed discs in the coming years.

In 2014 Bill sadly, and tragically, passed away following an accident at home. Apart from a single copy retained by his family as a framed keepsake, the 45s remaining in the UK are the only surviving stock from the original box that he had pressed with the sole intention to promote the band, like a calling card. It was not intended as a commercial release and would have been a private pressing had he not enjoyed a good relationship with label owner, Stan Lewis, who agreed to press it up on Ronn.

When I made contact with Bill in 2004 I undertook to sell small number of copies he had left. The deal was that one copy would be sold every two years. To be clear, there is not ‘a box’ of these – the number remaining is now in single figures of the original lot. Of these 45s, several are pressed slightly off-centre, a known issue with this single.

However, there several that are mint, pressed dead-centre and, apart from me checking once on high quality equipment, ‘unplayed’. To the best of my knowledge, every mint copy of the record sold from the UK in the past decade has originated from this batch, one way or another.

This is one of the perfect, centre-pressed original 45s. The disc is indeed mint, and comes in the manila pressing-plant sleeve, not a Jewel/Ronn/Paula sleeve, which was added by Lewis later for the very few copies he sold in his shop as a mark of Bill’s standing as a popular local act and well-liked character: or by UK record dealers to enhance the appearance of the item overall.

This remains one of the genuine rarities on the scene, a box of these has never been found, and never will be given what I know about the record's history. It was never distributed outside Shreveport apart from those sent to promoters by Bill (and probably binned more often than not, without even playing the b-side, I’m Waiting). The A-side is a swamp pop / country-tinged ballad, Velvet Touch, self-penned and designed for the local live music circuit.

I asked Bill about the amazing, soulful and musically complex b-side, like so many bewildered northern soul fans before me, trying to get to the bottom of what the influences were, what was he thinking of when he wrote it in 30mins before the recording session. “What was it meant to be?,” I asked. “It was meant to be the b-side,” he replied.

The mystery of what inspired this amazing record will never be solved now that Bill has gone, but it is simply one of the finest soul/jazz dancers ever. Nowhere, now or until the next listing, will you see a better copy.

Questions are welcome, but there is no BIN on this, the auction will finish as planned. Condition is mint, but bear in mind it is 50 years old and even mint records have a feint surface noise, it’s not a CD. This has now been booted of course on a cheap copy "Paula" label I think, but we’re not interested in that rubbish. One for very serious northern collectors only with a good track records of feedback. Good luck, the proceeds go to Bill’s family.

NB: record will be posted seperately, no combined postage. International buyers contact seller for price to your location, all post is registered signed for only. Again, please do not make offers or request a BIN price, I will not reply to such requests. Sold item paid in full by Paypal immediatelly please.